 More spring seasons
BOTH Dundee Rep and the Traverse have announced their programmes for the start of 2011. Dundee's in-house season kicks off with Jim Cartwright's The Rise and Fall of Little Voice directed by Jemima Levick at the end of February. Later in the season is The Firebird, a children's show by Neil Duffield, Jo Clifford's adaptation of Anna Karenina, also directed by Levick, and Denis Kelly's After the End, given a site-specific production by James Brining only a couple of weeks after the Citizens Theatre stages the same play. It is also giving a spin on the David MacLennan's short-play format with A Play, a Peh and a Pint, with contributions by Linda McLean and Michael Marra. The focal point of the Traverse's season is Rona Munro's Pandas, romantic-comedy-thriller set in Edinburgh and China, directed by Rebecca Gatward in April. Also in the busy programme is the Manipulate festival of visual theatre, the Imaginate children's theatre festival, the 21st birthday of Class Act, a season by the National Theatre of Scotland, the premiere of Catherine Wheels' Caged (pictured) by Rob Evans, and another piece of "guerrilla theatre" at election time along the lines of Gordon Brown: A Life in Theatre.  The Rae ahead
JUST when you thought it was safe to go back to your community theatre, we note the unexpected return of Edinburgh's Theatre Workshop. The organisation that brought us Bob Palmer, Andy Arnold and Adrian Harris used to provide an important performance space for small-scale theatre at its base in Stockbridge. Under artistic director Robert Rae, who took over in 1995, the company focused its energies on its own productions and the touring programme withered away. By the end of 2009, the company decided it could not afford to maintain its building and moved out. Rae, however, has kept the Theatre Workshop name alive. According to its website, the company has redefined "its operational model in response to new opportunities and . . . become a high quality theatre and film production and development company, which gives a voice to marginalised groups". If you would like to guide the company's development, you have until 7 January to apply to be a board member. Details here. Other newsAFTER the International Journal of Scottish Theatre ceased to operate in 2002, Queen Margaret University and Kingston University are joining forces to launch the very similarly titled International Journal of Scottish Theatre and Film. The academic web-only journal will appear in June and twice a year thereafter . . . In Glasgow's Merchant City, the new Art Bar plans to include short light-hearted one-act plays as part of its regular evenings of entertainment . . . A Play, a Pie and a Pint is looking for young directors to observe and participate in rehearsals for the forthcoming NTS season . . . Playwrights' Studio, Scotland is building its Play Resource Scotland, a database of plays written since 1985. It will be available online from 2012 . . . theatreSCOTLAND updates will return in the New Year . . . LAST CHANCE TO SEECinderella: A Rutherglen Panto, NLP, on tour, Dec 6–18 The Selfish Giant, Wee Stories, Platform, Glasgow, Dec 10–22 The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, Peapod Productions, the Store, Edinburgh, Dec 16–19 |  | |
| 16 December The Guardian Beauty and the BeastBy Alan McHugh. A Citizens Theatre review. 15 December The Guardian Jackand the BeanstalkA King's Theatre, Edinburgh review. 
9 December 2010 The Guardian By Chris Hannan. A Traverse Theatre review. 
8 December 2010 The Guardian The Snow QueenBy Stuart Paterson. A Royal Lyceum Theatre review. 
30 September 2010 Northings InteriorsVanishing Point review. 10 August 2010 Northings WhiteBy Andy Manley. A Catherine Wheels review. |
